What Are The Symptoms Of Bed Bugs?

There is a stigma attached to having bed bugs. You don’t feel healthy or clean, even though having these pests inside your home has nothing to do with bad sanitation or with having any kind of sickness. Bed bugs are not a problem for any single social class either; these pests can be found in the classiest hotels as well as low-budget lodgings: bed bugs don’t discriminate. These bugs can bring stress and worry for anyone that has them, causing lost sleep and feelings of being uncomfortable, itchy and scared to fall asleep in your own home. They can also make you feel ashamed for having them. You may feel embarrassed around friends and family if you have a bed bug problem in your home. Although they aren’t known to spread diseases with their bites, they are a true nuisance pest and can make your life a living nightmare.

Some people don’t even realize they have these blood sucking parasites inside their homes, especially if the infestation is in the early stages. One or two bed bugs in your home can easily go unnoticed, but as soon as they start to multiply, the symptoms of bed bugs become much more apparent.

Have you seen the signs of these little trouble makers? Signs can show up in many different ways. First, there are the physical signs of bed bugs on your body. When they come out to feed at night, they usually find you in your bed. If you spend your evenings on a recliner or couch, they could find you there too. Bed bugs’ saliva numbs your skin where they feed, so you don’t usually feel them while they bite. But often hours afterwards, the bites begin to itch and can end up looking a lot like a mosquito bite and usually there are three or four bites in a line or grouping. Some people never exhibit any symptoms after bed bugs have fed on them, while others will have huge red welts that itch severely. These bites aren’t really a problem (save the uncomfortable itching), but if they are scratched too much, a secondary problem can occur: the bites can become infected. This is especially true for children and the elderly and anyone with a compromised immune system.

Bed bugs can also leave signs of their presence on your furniture and fabrics. Their feces look like blood spots and they will leave these “spots” on your bedding and around areas where they have fed on your blood. These spots sort of ‘bleed’ into your linens, looking almost like a red or brown marker has bled on the fibers in your bedding. You can find these spots on mattresses, box springs, pillows and pillow cases and even upholstered furniture that you may spend a lot of time on. So, if you are noticing little brownish red spots around your bed, you can probably assume that these have been left behind by bed bugs.

Bed bugs shed their skins as they grow, so finding shed bed bug skins is a pretty definite sign that bed bugs are taking residence in your home. Their eggs are tiny (at about 1mm long) and white and finding these in and around the areas where bed bugs hide during the day is also a very good sign that bed bugs are nearby.

You can actually find these little blood suckers in pretty predictable places around the home. Because they come out at night to feed, they are known for finding safe places in which to hibernate during the day. They have often been found in bedside drawers, behind pictures on the wall, behind electrical outlets, along the edges of carpeting and even behind curtains or drapes. They will also slide themselves into tiny cracks and crevices around your home and even though they are not social insects like ants, you may find several of them in especially good hiding places. Finding actual bed bugs is a clear indication that these parasites have moved in.

Once you’ve seen the signs or felt the symptoms of a bed bug infestation, you want to do something about it. Don’t bother with do-it-yourself bed bug treatment products. These can be expensive and totally useless and can even be dangerous to your health and that of your family and pets if misused. You want to contact the professionals at Rottler Pest & Lawn Solutions immediately to help you handle your bed bug problem. For quick and effective bed bug control in St. Louis and throughout Mid-Missouri, contact Rottler Pest & Lawn Solutions today!